Rupert getting new milk product plant

Calva Products, a California company that makes infant animal milk formulas and other products, will open a new $9 million processing plant in Rupert. The new plant is slated to open next spring next to a cheese plant that will send its byproducts to be turned into a liquid milk replacer for calves.

The Brewsters West cheese plant in Rupert has shipped its byproducts to a Calva plant in California for two and a half years. The new Calva plant will cut down on shipping costs from the Brewsters’ plant and to northwest cattle that need Calva’s formula.

“Our new facility in Rupert will give us a tremendous competitive advantage in Idaho, the Intermountain, and Northwest regions since our products can be made and shipped locally with a local supply of ingredients from Brewster West,” Jim Cook, president and CEO of Calva, said in a news release.

The plant was announced by the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization on Dec. 3. The plant comes with a $9 million property tax exemption that Minidoka County Commissioners approved on Oct. 29. According to the meeting minutes, SIEDO executive director Jan Rogers said she’d worked on the Calva deal for almost two years. She said the new plant is a positive since the deal won’t affect Rupert’s existing infrastructure.

The new deal comes with a 15-year contract for Brewsters West with options thereafter. Construction costs will be $3 million for Calva and $6 million for Brewster, according to the county council meeting minutes.

“The local and state incentives were instrumental in our decision to locate and invest in Minidoka County,” Kevin Schwemley, Calva’s controller, said in a news release.

Calva, based in Acampo in northern California, produces its liquid milk replacer, called LiquaCalf, in Tulare in California’s Central Valley. Tulare is a 12-hour drive from Rupert.